TV Alert: Frank Oz on The Colbert Report November 28

Wait...this release of Little Shop of Horrors doesn't have the theatrical version on it anywhere?

I think Colbert was really annoying to Frank, he was asking some really stupid questions and you could tell that he was getting on Frank's nerve.

But overall, this interview was really funny. I'm glad Frank corrected him by saying not voices, but the performer is psychically Fozzie, or Yoda or whoever.

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I think Colbert does that to all his guests and like most talk show hosts, they review what's going to be asked and said ahead of time before the show. That's how David Letterman did it from my knowledge. Though Frank did mention how much he loved Colbert taking a bow before interviewing his guests. I think Colbert being annoying is all part of the act, and I guess the sense of humor of the show. It kind of seems like it's a political satirical news show but probably not that genre set in stone, I'm not sure, I rarely watch shows like this. The only satirical political news show I watch is "Les Guignols De L'ino" and I don't know French but their Spitting Image style puppets and humor is terrific. In my opinion. lol

But like I said, I think Colbert's annoying self is just an act. Just the character version of himself for Comedy. So I think it's just a fictional character sort of thing using the same name, and there's so many Comedians that do this. From stand up, artists, comedic critics and beyond. Some times in my work I do it. lol

Frank seemed a lot looser than the two times I saw him live. He handled everything Colbert threw at him really well.

I was fortunate enough to meet Carroll Spinney once, and talk for a while about Muppets, Sesame, Jim, etc. and you come away feeling you'd really like to sit down and have a beer with this guy. He's that casual, that relaxed, not uptight at all.
Maybe someday Frank will loosen up enough to be the same way. Time will tell.

Frank seemed a lot looser than the two times I saw him live. He handled everything Colbert threw at him really well.

I was fortunate enough to meet Carroll Spinney once, and talk for a while about Muppets, Sesame, Jim, etc. and you come away feeling you'd really like to sit down and have a beer with this guy. He's that casual, that relaxed, not uptight at all.
Maybe someday Frank will loosen up enough to be the same way. Time will tell.

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Yeah I've meet puppeteers and voice actors and they are very casual which is really cool because that's how I am and totally the same feild which I really want to be in. Advice I've gotten and learned through the years is follow your dreams no matter what. And the results come out beautifully. Lots of the greatest artists like Disney, and Mel Brooks started out in poverty with their ideas in their head and figuring out how to make it a reality, now they are legends.

I meet Carroll Spinney myself getting my book signed. He drew Jim and Kermit for me since I mentioned that Jim is my hero and how I loved his drawings that he did of him in his autobiography. He seemed a little introverted when he was there, kind of quiet. Though I've heard he's very casual. He didn't talk about The Muppets to me, instead he talked to me about almost meeting John Lennon. lol I got a funny story about when meeting Caroll, while I was in line, there was this very cool energetic lady who ran up to me and grabed my book and turned it to the back. "GASP! YOU GOT THE FIRST PRINT!" and she explained to me that the puppeteer holding up Oscar was on the bottom and was suppose to be cropped out of the picture. I thought she was just a Muppet fan. And trust me, I've been to MuppetFest and totally surprised how energetic everyone was. lol Fun Memories Anyway I later found out she wasn't just a fan, THAT WAS HIS WIFE! She was really cool and really nice And I really liked how artsy she seemed, kind of 1960s dressed. I really admire 1960s culture This was in the mid 2000s. Anyway I remember being really nervious and my mouth felt like it was full of cotton. I told him I'm a huge Jim Henson / Muppet fan. He looked up to me and said quietly "I figured that." I remember mentioning how he drew Jim in his book. And he said "When did I do that?" So I was rushing around, looking through the pages and found the drawing of Jim sitting in his chair. "Like this one" and he looked at it and tells me "He really does sit like that you know." lol But yeah, he was nice enough to draw me a cartoonish version of a young Jim Henson with his vest holding Kermit. Very nice of him and it was an honor to meet him

Anyone catch the Colbert Ernie and Bert remark "It's a straight situation right?" and Frank shook his head yes with a serious straight face. I think that was a bad question. I love Ernie and Bert, Bert is probably my favorite Frank character out of all The Muppets. Ernie and Bert were always my favorite on Sesame, growing up I had Ernie & Bert puppets and dolls. Great childhood memories. One of these days, I would love to meet Frank.

Any chance anyone will be able to upload this to youtube? I can't watch it. Living in Canada has it's drawbacks...

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Isn't there a Canadian Comedy Central page? I know there's international South Park Studios sites to watch episodes in different countries so there's got to me ones like this for the other shows.
I think the episode reruns tonight.

Wait...this release of Little Shop of Horrors doesn't have the theatrical version on it anywhere?

I think Colbert was really annoying to Frank, he was asking some really stupid questions and you could tell that he was getting on Frank's nerve.

But overall, this interview was really funny. I'm glad Frank corrected him by saying not voices, but the performer is psychically Fozzie, or Yoda or whoever.

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That's Colbert's shtick. He plays an obnoxious "Bill O'Reilly" sort of character that is more in love with himself than the people he interviews. Frank Oz not only recognized that, he seemed to love it! Oz doesn't like to do much press because of such real-life blow-hards. I felt both of them were having a great time. There are plenty of "straight" interviews with Oz and you can usually see his frustration with the hosts and their boilerplate questions. It's great to see such sharp wits paired together like this. Last night was a rare treat!

The new Little Shop of Horrors Blu-ray has BOTH versions of the film and some fantastic commentary. It also comes in a little booklet case. This new release is not one of those usual cynical cash grabs we often get. This is a definite must-have for anyone who loves the film. I recommend you get it!

That's Colbert's shtick. He plays an obnoxious "Bill O'Reilly" sort of character that is more in love with himself than the people he interviews. Frank Oz not only recognized that, he seemed to love it! Oz doesn't like to do much press because of such real-life blow-hards. I felt both of them were having a great time. There are plenty of "straight" interviews with Oz and you can usually see his frustration with the hosts and their boilerplate questions. It's great to see such sharp wits paired together like this. Last night was a rare treat!

The new Little Shop of Horrors Blu-ray has BOTH versions of the film and some fantastic commentary. It also comes in a little booklet case. This new release is not one of those usual cynical cash grabs we often get. This is a definite must-have for anyone who loves the film. I recommend you get it!

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I rarely seen the movie myself. I think I seen it when I was under 10 years old. Though listing to the 80s music from that clip last night, I really like that then I remembered. Oh yeah, it's a musical. lol There was some Henson folk involved in that right? Wasn't Heather Henson wearing braces or some dental headgear like one of those exaggerated oversized utainers in a dentest office or something like that? Wasn't Brian Henson and Marty Robinson puppeteers in that as well?

You know, my favorite Frank Oz non-Henson film was What About Bob. That was a hilarious film and even Fran Brill is in it. lol It still surprises me that she did voices for the Nickelodeon version of Doug. Death at a Funeral was really good too, it had that dark humor quality of What About Bob. I still need to see Frank's other films though. Say, didn't Frank just do something with Bert lately? There was these Sesame Street Authorized youtube videos of Bert in a "Behind The Actors Studio" sort of thing interviewing someone. I seen only a few seconds of it due to being in a hurry but I'd love to watch the whole thing if I can find what it's called. It was pretty recent.

But yeah I figured the original ending must be in there. Gremlins 2 did the same thing. But the original theater gag in there because they had a different gag for the video version and I was quite mad until I found out through internet research of course lol (Imagine what we would have done without it. lol) that it was a hidden Easter Egg.

For the few who are unaware, Frank has an interesting body of directorial work. Here's a list of his films and my relative ranking of them:

Must-See:
The Dark Crystal A+
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels A
The Score A-
Little Shop Of Horrors A-
Death at a Funeral B+
Muppets Take Manhattan B
What About Bob? B-
In & Out C+

Meh:
HouseSitter C
Bowfinger C-

Ones to Avoid:
The Indian in the Cupboard D
The Stepford Wives F

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Hmm, never heard of HouseSitter. I heard Stepford Wives was bad, same for Bowfinger but I still need to check them out since I'm sort of a see it for myself kind of person. lol I liked Muppets Take Manhattan but yeah it's a little confusing. "Kermie, remember you said that we can not get married until we have enough money?" Thank Goodness that the Muppets say that most of the time they play characters of themselves in movies. But yeah, the whole Wedding scene I think was something Jim and Frank thaught up of to mess around with the gossip journalists. lol Genius. They kept that going for a while, especially when Miss Piggy and Kermit are on separate late night shows. lol That's when details get juicy and the argument gets heavy. lol But yeah, What About Bob and Death At A Funeral where my favorites so far from Frank's work. But you know, it's in the matter of taste. As what a humor teacher taught me once at my artsy high school, dark humor varies in indevisuals to how intense they can take it. Some time it's edgy enough to get a laugh out of a rude joke, sometimes it's too over the extreme for them. But yeah, it depends in terms of an indevisuals comedic taste. As for me, my sense of humor is quite dark and irreverent. For example I'm a loyal South Park fan, I love Team America, Meet The Feebles, certain calls on Crank Yankers (usually grumpy people on the phone before the start of the crank call) and for Wonder Showzen. It's a pretty heavy dark show, I can't watch the Clarence bits. Clarence looks like a rip off of the tall blue frog from The Frog Prince / The Muppet Show. It's this guy (Towelly on South Park) who has this puppet and they go around making people angry. I don't like that kind of Tom Green humor, where people like making innocent people angry. That's probably one of my only limitations as well as certain stereotypes. Though being really into satire, I think it's funny when it ticks off someone who deverses it. But like I said, it's all about indevisual taste. Some think it's funny, some don't. And that's okay.

I loved the "taking a bow" banter, the "pork, beans, & laundry" remarks, and how Frank phrased the main concept of puppeteering: "The voice is only 10 percent of it, the rest is 90 percent." Also: Frank's eyes seemed to be narrowing as Colbert mentioned Frank as the "VOICE" of all the Muppets. We all know how much Frank dislikes the voice talk and it seemed like he was going to berate Colbert or something.

PS I wonder what Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Sam the Eagle, Animal, and Cookie Monster would sound like now...he hasn't performed any of them for eight years...he probably still has it in him, since he still performs Grover and Bert on occasion.

He doesn't really look like that Muppet anymore though! :-D
I thought the interview was fab. I'm a huge Colbert fan, and when he ran over to Frank, I could've piddled on the floor I was so darn excited. I think he and Stephen played very well off each other.
I was very stoked to hear him talk, too, because all I heard was Fozzie. :-D

I'm not sure if anyone knows this but the Colbert Report episode with Frank Oz is on iTunes for $1.99 just in case anyone here has an ipod or apple product, or itunes and what not. It's probably on Amazon Video on Demand for those Windows users out there. Just in case if nobody found this news out, I figure I put this out here.

For not liking the book, I didn't think The Indian in the Cupboard was too bad. As far as What About Bob, I watched it a few months ago after not having seen the whole thing since I was a kid. I had forgotten about the ending. I think it was a great movie- very funny- until the ending, and that's a shame. I blame the writing and not the director.

For not liking the book, I didn't think The Indian in the Cupboard was too bad. As far as What About Bob, I watched it a few months ago after not having seen the whole thing since I was a kid. I had forgotten about the ending. I think it was a great movie- very funny- until the ending, and that's a shame. I blame the writing and not the director.

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Did you know that the therapist's sister who falls in love with Bob is played by Fran Brill?

Personally I liked What About Bob. But like Death at a Funeral, they require a more dark morbid sense of humor. Like for example Bob is this extremely causious guy and no one ever explains why he bacause that way. He has a pet goldfish in a jelly jar that he turned into a necklace and he goes to see this millionare con-artist therapist who sells him a self help book and Bob thinks that the therapist is such a genuis, he never leaves him alone. And the therapist is in truth a very mean person with a denile family and they end up loving Bob, everybody loves Bob except for the Therapist who wants nothing more but to get rid of him even if it means the most extreme measures. lol It's kind of a dark screwball sort of situation while Death at a Funeral was more dark. The husband who passes and the whole family is there for the funeral and this rather short person was his man's secret life partner and he has pictures to prove it for blackmail so it's up to the man's sons to stop this guy from ruining the funeral while there's some nude guy who thinks he's a bird flapping his arms on top of the roof. lol Like I said, it's kind of dark, defenately darker then The Muppets. Other then that, that's all I've seen of Frank's directing work except for Little Shop of Horrors which I've seen as a kid. I'm not sure, is Frank's other movies similar to these two or do they have more of a different sense? I know that Frank did The Score which I heard was a drama. And I read Frank directed an episode of some drama show in 2011. But yeah, like I mentioned, we all have our opinions and different senses of humor. lol